Train ticket costs set to soar AGAIN next year... but these clever tricks can help you slash the price

It would be a hard task to find a commuter who believes they should be paying more for their train tickets.

Fares are already extortionate, delays leave passengers arriving late to work and over-booked trains leave many travellers standing in aisles.

But even as Britain's train punctuality falls to its lowest level in more than five years, rail fares across England could rise by a higher-than-expected 5.8 per cent next year.

This means an annual season ticket from Woking to London will soar from £4,260 to £4,507, a £247 hike, while an annual ticket from York to Leeds would see a £176 rise to £3,204.

It comes after the Official for National Statistics revealed the Retail Price Index figure surged to 4.8 per cent in July.

While the exact increase to rail ticket prices is not known, the hike to rail fares in March of this year was one percentage point above July 2024's RPI figure.

If the same method is used to calculate next March's rail cost increase, train travellers could see prices soar by 5.8 per cent.

Not all tickets will be subject to the near 6 per cent hike in costs – it will only apply to regulated fares in England.

Regulated fares account for about half of all train journeys and the prices of these fares is set by the Government.

They include season tickets on most commuter routes, flexible tickets around major cities and a selection of off-peak return journeys.

However, squeezed households can make use of a slew of both common and little-known ticks to slash tens of pounds off their ticket price.

Whether it's signing up to a train time 'lucky dip' or booking tickets for day trips in a group, here's what you should be doing to cut down the costs.

It's one of the best-known ways to save money on rail fares – but one of the easiest.

If you know when you are going to be travelling, you can bag your tickets as far as 12 weeks in ahead of time. The earlier you buy your tickets, the cheaper they tend to be.

Some rail firms release tickets even earlier than 12 weeks, but be aware that timetabling can change slightly if you book that far in advance.

Even if you only know for sure when you will be travelling a few hours beforehand, there are still small savings to be had.

Many train operators offer cheap advance tickets even on the day of travel. For example, CrossCountry and Greater Anglia offer cheaper tickets up to ten minutes before the journey. For other companies, it's up to two hours before travel.

For a select few, including Great Western Railway and Southern Western Railways, the cut off is the day before you're due to travel.

National Railcards have long been popular – there's a whole host available to shave tends of pounds of your fare cost.

The most common are a 16-25 Railcard and a Senior Railcard, for those aged 60 and over. They each cost £35 for one year and slash ticket prices by one-third.

An off-peak return trip from Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston typically costs £114 but a traveller with one of these Railcards can snap up the tickets for £75.90.

However, there are also a whole range of other lesser-known annual Railcards.

If you are over 25 years old but under 30, you can buy a 26-30 Railcard for £35 and get a third off on eligible fares.

But the real big savings come with a 16-17 Saver Railcard where for £35 a year you can enjoy 50 per cent off most tickets.

Anyone aged 16 and over who travels a lot in London and the south east can grab a Network Railcard, which also shaves one-third off prices for just £35 a year.

If you are disabled you can also get one-third off travel costs – but for just £20.

Plus, go to the ticket office at a London Underground station with a Railcard and your Oyster card and they can also apply the discount for off-peak travel on London Underground for the duration of the Railcard.

But before buying a Railcard, think about if you travel enough to get the cost of the card back.

As most cards only cost £35 and offer one-third off costs, you'll only need to spend about £105 a year on trains to get your money back – and with the rate at which fares are increasing, that shouldn't be too hard.

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Another little-known trick to save money is to travel in a group of between three and nine people.

This works well for days out or travelling to a staycation with friends or family.

You do not need to buy a Railcard for this, but must ask for a so-called GroupSave at the ticket office or when purchasing online.

One of the passengers must book all of the tickets. By doing this you can save a third off the price of any off-peak travel.

For example, four separate off-peak return tickets from Bristol Temple Meads to Oxford typically cost a total of £210.80. But by purchasing using the GroupSave option, the total fell to £142.99 – a saving of almost £68.

There are also Railcards available for people who are not travelling on their own.

The Two Together Railcard is designed for couples or two people who tend to travel together, such as friends, colleagues or family. Named passengers get a third off train tickets when they travel together.

It's the same savings for a Friends and Family Railcard. It applies for groups of up to four adults and four. Adults can save a third off train tickets while children get a 60 per cent discount. At least one adult and one child must travel together.

As these cards still cost £35, but cover two or more people, splitting the price means you can make your money back even faster.

If you're travelling with Avanti West Coast – which covers major cities including London, Glasgow and Manchester - you could grab a ticket at a fraction of its usual cost.

But there's a catch – you won't know the exact time you're travelling until the day before.

You can choose a morning, afternoon or evening departure window and then Avanti will match you to an empty seat.

It means you can grab a ticket from London to Birmingham for as little as £9. You'll have 24 hours' notice of the time your train leaves but you must book at least seven days in advance.

Regular train travellers will know the disappointing feeling of procrastinating booking a ticket only to then notice it has suddenly shot up in price. But you can avoid this with the price prediction service on Trainline.

The tool on its mobile app allows you to search for a journey and fin out when fares are expected to rise in prices.

It works by analysing pricing trends from tickets that have already been sold to estimate how long you have to book tickets at their current, lower price.

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Of course, this could be wrong but you could potentially save money by booking tickets before the next hike in fares.

If you travel multiple times a day in a specific area then a rover or ranger ticket may be best for you.

A ranger ticket enables travellers to enjoy unlimited travel for one day in specific regions, such as the West Midlands, for a cheaper price.

These are not advertised on ticket machines and you should speak to the ticket office to ask about options in your area.

For example, one rail enthusiast previously paid £48 for an adult and child ranger for the day, using it to travel between Leamington Spa and Crewe. If he had purchased anytime returns, the tickets would have totalled £163.05.

There's also a rover ticket, which is a limited time period ticket that can be used over several days that works much the same as a ranger. This could be travel for three consecutive days or four days within an eight-day period, for example.

It's useful for those who travel a lot within a specific area.

Both the ranger and rover tickets can provide additional savings if the tickets are also purchased using a Railcard. For children aged 5 to 15, rover and ranger fares are halved.

Another common money-saving trick is split ticketing. This is where you buy separate rail tickets for different legs of a journey, as it is cheaper than buying the whole journey in a single ticket.

You do not need to swap trains, but your train must stop at the station from which separate tickets have been bought.

The trick could save you even more if one leg of the journey then falls into an off-peak or super off-peak window. This means you might get a cheaper seat on one leg of the journey than another because it becomes off-peak.

A specialist website such as Trainsplit or Split Ticketing can do the legwork for you.

These websites buy all the tickets that you would need on your journey in one go. Some websites may charge a small fee for this service but you are still likely to save money.

For example, a day return train journey from Bristol Temple Meads to Birmingham New Street can cost £74.70, but with Trainsplit it will cost you £51.07 for the same journey, which includes £4.17 commission.

Ticket machines tend to withhold details about the price difference between peak and off-peak travel.

Instead, they will show you prices based on the time period you are in at the time of your search.

Machines rarely provide details of off-peak prices until that period has arrived – often after 10am.

This means if you arrive at the station 30 minutes before the end of 'peak' time, you may not realise that by waiting for a slightly later train you could get a cheaper deal.

For information about the price difference, you still need to ask at a ticket office or scroll through train websites.

In the modernised world of train ticket machines, off-peak and super-off-peak times – that can cost less than half the price of 'standard' peak tickets – are not always obvious.

When you have been stuck on a delayed train in scorching weather and need to rush into the office, the last thing you want to do is fill out a tedious form.

But spare just five minutes and you could potentially get your entire rail fare back under the delay repay scheme.

This is a nationwide scheme that allows you to claim back a portion of your rail fare if your train was delayed or cancelled.

You can fill out a form online, pick up a claims form at a ticket office or download your train company's smartphone app.

Different train companies will operate different delay repay scheme. Some will start offering compensation when your train is delayed by 15 minutes, while for others it's 30 minutes.

For example, if you bought a return ticket with Great Western Railway and your train was 15 to 29 minutes delayed, you get back 12.5 per cent of the ticket price.

For 30 to 59 minutes, it's 25 per cent while for 60 to 119 minutes, it's 50 per cent. If you face a delay lasting 120 minutes or more, you'll get a full refund. That's even if the delay was only on the outward or return leg of the journey.

You must make your claim within 28 days of the delay, however.

Commuters travelling via LNER can get 2 per cent credit when they book their train tickets, if they are signed up to LNER perks.

Plus, users of Trainline can get cashback when they use TopCashback to book their trains.

It's only a small amount – 1 per cent – but that is still extra cash to boost your bank account. If you spend £4,000 on trains every year, you'll get £40 in cashback.

Plus, TopCashback even offer 20 per cent cashback when new customers purchase a Railcard.

This means that on an £80 three-year Railcard you could get £16 in cashback.